


In The Fire Season

by eos_3



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Burns, Dr. Haruno, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Future Fic, Healing, Hospitalization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-24
Updated: 2009-09-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 00:27:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2831498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eos_3/pseuds/eos_3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been a bad year for the forests of the Fire Country, and the shinobi are the ones called upon to put out the blazes. When Kakashi gets injured while out fighting one, Sakura goes to him as quickly as she can.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Fire Season

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I have no idea where the heck this came from, but the requested smut was not forthcoming, and the slice-of-life family drama was. So here you go, it's not very naughty, but it was fun for me to write. BTW, Future!fic. They're old, they have kids.

"I think that should be everything, Mom. Remember, bedtime at eight, no exceptions." A rush of motion down at her mother's feet caught Sakura's attention. "Don't hide Yukina's doll behind your back, Natsuki!" she hissed, and watched as her pink-haired, demon spawn of a daughter reluctantly returned the toy to her younger sister. She was never like this when Kakashi was around, damn it.

Sakura's eyes flicked back to her mother, hoping she didn't look too frazzled or embarassed. "Natsuki's class starts at six o'clock sharp, make sure she doesn't forget her weapons pouch." Sakura glared at her eldest again in warning, and made another incremental backwards step to the front door of her parents' home. "I love you, be good for grandma and grandpa," she said. "Thanks again, Mom."

"Don't worry about it. We haven't had them over since last week. Tell Kakashi to get better," her mother said, scooping up white-haired Yukina, who was sucking her thumb and clutching her doll like her life depended on it, while giving her sibling the death stare. Natsuki waved half-heartedly, mischief already stirring in her dark eyes.

Sakura grinned, as it might have been too tight to be described as smiling. "Of course he will, I'll be taking care of him. Bye bye."

Once the door was shut behind her, it was very difficult not to take off running across the rooftops. Sakura waited until she was two blocks away, leaped up to the branches of a nearby tree, and kept jumping tree to tree, roof to roof, until she reached the hospital.

Now all she had to do was spring Kakashi. He would have to be conscious by now.

Greeting the two junior medics who were on duty, she went behind the registration desk and looked over the patient log. They'd stuck him on the second floor, which wasn't a problem. It meant he'd have his own room.

She went up, hoping and praying she didn't run into Tsunade. Her shishou might be in semi-retirement, but she still had a strong presence at the hospital, and it wouldn't be unusual for her to be visiting patients in the recovery rooms. Without a doubt, if the woman got even the most remote hint that Sakura wasn't just visiting her husband, but intended to take him home for treatment. Well, it wouldn't be pleasant.

Why did having a little time alone together have to be so damn difficult?

As she reached for the chart dangling on the hook outside his door, Sakura cringed. Tsunade's voice was muffled, but audible inside, as was Kakashi's. They were discussing the mission - which wasn't really a mission, more like disaster relief.

She glanced down the sheet, glad to see that he had improved so much, though she still had a fair bit of work ahead of her. His chakra levels were almost back to normal, which was good. Now that he didn't have the Sharingan draining him constantly, he bounced back so much faster.

Replacing his chart, Sakura did a genjutsu to blend in with the wall, waiting for the former Hokage to leave. Heeled sandals clicked towards the door, and she watched as it slid open, trying hard not to move, suppressing her chakra as much as she could.

"You had your chance, brat. I don't agree with every decision he makes either, but he's the one in charge now. Just be glad he listens to advice," said the Godaime closing the door behind her. Sakura felt beads of sweat prickle her forehead, but she didn't twitch or try to wipe it away, feeling the breeze of the other woman's passing, ponytails swishing behind her. Tsunade went into a room a little further down the hall, and Sakura finally relaxed, and slipped into Kakashi's room.

He was propped up on two pillows and reading, his mask up, both arms wrapped with bandages up to the elbow, and gauze taped to either side of his face, one near his left temple, the other over his right cheek. His eye flicked across her face, morose and relieved at the same time, and she weighed how much sympathy she was willing to dole out. He closed his book, and she smiled.

"More or less in one piece. You might still be of use to me," she said, sitting down on his bedside. He'd been burned, badly, while out on a mission to the west of Konoha, where forest fires had been raging on and off all summer. "What happened?"

"Saving someone else's skin. As usual," he said, hoarse, and tugged down his mask with a taped finger, so she could kiss him properly. "My chakra got too low, and the smoke inhalation knocked me out."

Frowning, she unwrapped the bandages and started healing his hand. "I hope your teammates come by to thank you when they get back."

He shook his head in a slight way, informing her that he felt like hadn't done nearly as good a job as he could have. "Don't worry about it. They're still out there and they've got enough problems. It's a nightmare. Everyone was underestimating how bad it was going to spread. If we had more people who could go aerial it would be better. It's hard to gauge how the fire is spreading when everything is under a blanket of black smoke and it's going treetop to treetop. Even the Hyuugas have trouble seeing through."

There were two reasons the Fire Country had it's name. The first was the volcanic activity, the second was the large amount of forested land. This combination meant that drought years often were deadly.

The past two years had been unusually dry, and between the unceasing fiery grumblings of the earth and human carelessness, it didn't take much to make a disaster with so many water-starved trees around. Every shinobi with a good handle on Doton and Suiton techniques had been called to the front lines to help put out this latest flare up, which meant Kakashi had been at the top of the list.

The Katon and Fuuton users weren't totally useless, helping clear brush, and make firebreaks, and everyone else wielded shovels and axes. As the highest-ranking medic, Sakura had to stay in the village at times like these, but there had been plenty for her to do.

"Naruto said more than 80,000 acres have burned outside the town of Ezumatsu." She worked her way up his arm with the green orb of healing chakra, and felt him move over to lean down and kiss her on the neck. His lips were cracked and chapped, and he sighed into her skin.

"Those were the last numbers I heard, too. They evacuated early, and everyone was hoping the fire would stay on the east bank of the river. Did you see Tsunade? She said he's going to go out himself to try to help."

She shook her head. "No, I thought it would be best to avoid her if I wanted to be alone with you. We're going home as soon as you can move."

His eyebrows rose, and the corner of his mouth quirked. "Really? Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"My parents have the girls for the rest of the week, so I can just take care of you," she grinned. Once they were alone, she'd take care of him every way she knew how.

"Oh," he said, catching the glint in her eye. "You know once I'm able, I'll be going back out there," he said. It was just like him to throw himself into danger the second he got a chance; as if he wasn't alive unless he was riding a wild surge of adrenaline every waking moment. She understood the sentiment, but this time it wasn't happening.

"No. I don't think you are. Naruto is going to be out of the village, so you have to stay. One of us has to be able act in his stead if something happens here. It may be fire season, but it's also still a busy time of year for contracts. If something else blows up, I'd rather it be you handling it than me, because you've got more experience."

Sakura saw a silver eyebrow raise, and wanted to smack him. Even if no one was allowed to mention her state, Tsunade was too frail, since the day Pein destroyed the village, and Sasuke still wasn't trusted by a good portion of the villagers. She and Kakashi were now the two strongest shinobi in the village after Naruto and Sasuke.

"Not to mention I've been in and out of this place at all hours lately because of the fires. Trying to keep things relatively normal for the girls - by myself - for the past two weeks without you has been, I admit, a bit challenging," she said. "I can handle it, but I'll be stretched very thin."

Kakashi still looked at her askance. She was expecting him to counter with the argument that she actually had worked one-on-one with the Godaime for almost four years, and therefore a far better grasp of what the job of Hokage entailed, but he didn't. "You're serious."

Her hands moved over his chest, and she sunk her chakra deep, relieved to find the damage to his lungs wasn't too extensive. "I'm completely, utterly, deadly serious. You almost died again. It's not playing hooky, it's recovering in a reasonable amount of time along with shouldering some of Naruto's administrative duties if necessary. You aren't going to lose face."

Sighing, he leaned back against the pillows again, letting her work. "So I'm supposed to sit inside the walls and be fawned over by my wife, while everyone else is out risking their lives?"

"You make it sound like torture. You've done more for this village than anyone I know, who isn't dead or Naruto. Shikamaru and Tenzou are perfectly capable of delegating resources on the field, and once Naruto arrives and puts his back into it, who knows what will happen." She really wished the image of a thousand Narutos pissing on the fire hadn't immediately popped into her mind, but that was the sort of man he was.

"You're saying everyone will survive without me."

"Doesn't it at least feel good knowing it takes three men to take your place?" She grinned a little, but it was weak. They both knew he was nearly past his prime, and his knowledge and experience counted for more than his physical abilities these days. Not to say that in his forties he wasn't one of the most formidable ninjas in the world.

Kakashi narrowed his eye at her. "You're just trying massage my ego now."

"I could massage something else, but I'd prefer to go home first."

"Hmm, well, it sounds like you've already got this all worked out."

"You've been unconscious for thirty-six hours. Naruto and I had a long talk, and there's no reason both of you have to be there. Konoha still has to be able to function normally." She wasn't going to tell him about the raging and crying part, because if he didn't know her well enough to remember how she reacted when her loved ones were hurt in the past, he'd definitely been away too long and possibly brain-damaged.

"I guess there are two very cute little girls I wouldn't mind seeing once you're done with me," he said. Sakura noticed that warm, fond glow to his face that nothing else could produce, when he spoke of them.

"Yes, and you need to have a talk with Natsuki." If she recalled correctly, Kakashi had already graduated the ninja academy around her age, and Sakura was starting to wonder if Natsuki was aware of this fact and was rankled by it.

"Oh?"

"She's been acting up in class, saying all of her classmates are stupid and that she's bored," Sakura said, feeling irritated just thinking about it. She didn't really understand her daughter, and she wondered if she ever would.

Kakashi chuckled. "I told you I knew by the time she was two, she was taking after me."

"Yes, but she's not you, and things are different from when you were a kid. She may not even see combat until she's a teenager, if that's what she even specializes in." Sakura knew both of her children were going to become kunoichi, but she didn't have to pretend to like knowing that someday they would be putting themselves in mortal danger.

"Ah, things were so much simpler when all a person had to worry about was living to see the next day. I'll talk to her."

"Good. I don't care if she wants to try to test out of the academy, but she needs to at least attempt to make friends. Give me your other arm." Sakura watched Kakashi's expression grow thoughtful as she shifted her chakra down into his right hand, where the damage was the worst. Under the bandages the skin was nearly gone in some places and his palm and fingers were a red and white mass of burns and blisters. "Have you been able to bend your fingers?"

"I haven't tried," he said moving his wrist a little and wincing. "I can still feel it a little even with you dampening the pain."

She nodded. "This is going to take a while. Do you think you can walk?"

"We're leaving now?"

She stopped and tapped her chin with her finger. "Hmm, let me see - either you can have hospital food and a hospital bed and no sex, or you can have carryout from Ayame's new restaurant, our soft, warm futon and me re-enacting Chapter 12 from Icha Icha Violence."

He leaned down until their foreheads touched and they were eye to eye. "You're a very naughty medic, I hope you know," he said, and kissed her.

Smiling, she tugged at the collar of her red blouse. "Black kimono or red?"

"Black. I've got enough chakra, I'll teleport home," he said.

Sakura nodded. "Go straight to bed. I'll pick up dinner on the way there," she said, watching him disappear in an eager puff of smoke.

Once she'd gotten him good and sexed and healed and fed, she might have finally have built up the nerve to tell him she was pregnant again.


End file.
